The present invention relates to a new and improved method of, and apparatus for, testing the hardness of a material, substance, stock or the like, generally simply referred to hereinafter as "material" or "materials."
The invention utilizes a hardness-test procedure wherein a test point or tip -- the terms "test point" or "test tip" being broadly used herein to also denote any test portion or test element -- is impacted against the material to be tested by means of a moved mass. The mass which is moved before impact, and which can possess a random geometry and can be formed of any suitable desired materials or substances, will be conveniently referred to in the following disclosure simply as "impact body" or "impact body member." The impact body and test tip can collectively form an integral or unitary component, or also can consist of separate parts movable relative to one another. For instance, the test tip or point can be constituted by a sphere or ball, a partially spherical pin or bolt, or a ball connected with a bolt or equivalent structure.
In order to determine the hardness of materials there have been utilized, apart from the heretofore known or so-called static indentation hardness procedures according to Brinell, Vickers and Rockwell, in many instances also dynamic hardness testing procedures. These rely upon the principle of bringing into contact with the material to be tested a test tip or point by impact or percussion thereof and, depending upon the technique employed, either the permanent deformation of the material, or the impact force between the test tip and the material, or the impact duration or else the potential residual energy of an impact body together with the test point after the rebound thereof from the material, constitutes a measure for the material hardness. However, the energy of the impact- or percussion action, for all of the dynamic testing procedures, always is selected to be so large that, due to the contact of the test tip or point at the material to be tested, there occur permanent deformations at such material.